The importance of exercise to the maintenance of good health and general well-being has received increased emphasis over the last several years. Today, it is generally recognized that proper exercise may reduce many adverse health risks and contribute to a person's overall physical and mental well-being. As such, the popularity of health clubs and home exercise equipment has increased greatly. Nonetheless, obesity is a growing epidemic in the United States, threatening the health of millions of people and contributing to over 300,000 deaths per year.
Many people, although they would like to exercise, are unable to do so for a variety of reasons. This results in fitness club memberships and exercise equipment that go unused. One such reason is time. Between work, family and other obligations, many people simply do not have the time to travel to a health club and spend the necessary time to exercise despite their best planning. Also, exercising at home may not be an option for many people, again because of the lack of time and also because of typical household distractions, such as family, telephone, etc. Still others feel prohibited from exercising because of the cost associated with fitness club memberships and home exercise equipment.
Most people, however, spend a significant amount of time in their automobile every day. Several devices have been developed to take advantage of this time and encourage exercise to some extent. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,482 describes a seat exerciser device comprising a first strap for attachment to a seat, a second strap for attachment around a person's chest and shoulders and a tension member having one end attached to the first strap and the opposite end attached to the second strap. To use, the person moves forward against the tension of the tension member, thereby exercising the chest and stomach muscles.
Another exercise device for a vehicle is described by U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,287. This device comprises an elastic member having a first end with a footrest and a second end attached to the underside of an automobile dashboard. In use, the driver of the automobile places his or her foot onto the footrest and extends the elastic member, thereby exercising leg muscles. Importantly, the nature of this device appears to pose a potential safety risk because it includes a member which hangs down from an automobile dashboard in the vicinity of the drivers legs, the gas pedal and the brake. Thus, it has the potential to impede the driver's ability to properly move his or her legs and access the gas pedal and brake. Furthermore, the device is designed to be bolted or similarly mounted to the underside of the automobile dashboard, posing assembly and mounting difficulties.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,183,403 describes an exercise system for use in an automobile or other vehicle that can be used to exercise arm, shoulder, chest and leg muscles. However, this invention, too, is a distraction from driving and thus cannot be used safely while the vehicle is in motion.
Other exercise devices, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,324,243 and 5,171,295, were designed for use with chairs and may be adapted for use with automobile seats.
Although these background art devices are useful for their intended purposes, none has proven to be entirely effective. Specifically, as discussed above, these devices are either dangerous, bulky, cumbersome or unattractive. Importantly, these devices address the issue of time, but not motivation. There is nothing to motivate the user to exercise other than the desire for exercise.
A small portion of the background art has attempted to address motivation for exercise by linking exercise to transportation. U.S. Pat. No. 3,513,928 describes a motorized cart that allows the operator to take as little or as much exercise as desired during the time that the cart is in operation. This is achieved by providing an adjustable effort exercising device in the form of a pedal driven pump, the inlet and outlet of which are connected in a closed fluid circuit to a motorized cart. Here, the speed of the vehicle varies in accordance with the speed of operation of the exercise device. That is, the pedals must be rotated in order to propel the vehicle and the faster the pedals are turned, the faster the vehicle travels. The vehicle's acceleration and deceleration are directly proportional to the increase or decrease in pedal rate. This device is limited, however, to a particular velocity range that is dependent upon the maximum pedal rate the operator can attain and the operator's ability to maintain that rate. As a consequence, the achievable speeds are limited. Thus, while the vehicle cart of the '928 patent does accomplish the goal of integrating exercise with transportation, the mechanism described would be unsafe on modern roads. This vehicle cannot accommodate the wide range of speeds at which a modern vehicle must operate, such as 5 mph while maneuvering in a parking lot to 65 mph while on a freeway. Furthermore, on a trip of significant duration, such as a typical 30 minute commute, the operator will likely grow tired towards the end of the trip. In this case, the driver will not be able to maintain freeway speeds, creating a serious safety hazard.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,598,195 ('195) describes a tricycle comprising a battery-powered drive motor as well as a pedal system. Either the motor or the pedal system alone can be used to propel the tricycle, but they may also be used in combination to supplement each other. Like the invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,513,928, the '195 tricycle has a severely limited velocity range and its acceleration and deceleration is directly proportional to the increase or decrease in pedal rate. Here, the pedals are mechanically coupled to the wheels of the cart. Thus the operator's pedaling physically propels the tricycle. This mechanism cannot work in an automobile because human effort is not enough to influence the movement of a 1500 lb vehicle traveling at 45 mph.
Other inventions have addressed the concept of electronically controlling a vehicle's speed in ways that are not directly proportional to a physical activity. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,070,185 describes a system designed to maintain a vehicle's current (i.e. instantaneous) speed. This system consists of an electronic circuit that detects the vehicle's current speed and generates an electronic signal that drives a pneumatically powered throttle positioning system, which is coupled to the accelerator-throttle valve linkage. Modern cruise control systems are based on this system. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,983,954, 4,072,206 and 5,060,744 further expand on this concept: i.e., to enable the vehicle to maintain its current speed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,022,580 (Bidwell et al.) describes a system where an automobile is controlled by a single joystick controller. Here, servo motors control the vehicle's acceleration, braking and steering. The purpose of this invention is to provide the driver with a single control for acceleration, braking and steering and to allow the characteristics of these systems to be dependent on the speed of the vehicle.
Bidwell's system was adapted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,954 (Johnson et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,416 (Ahnafield) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,684 (Bolduc). The Ahnafield and Johnson systems control the acceleration, braking and steering with a joystick input to an electronic control circuit. The control circuit drives a pair of linear actuators via an electric motor. The actuators are connected to the vehicle's gas and brake pedals. The Bolduc system differs from the Ahnafield and Johnson systems in that it only controls acceleration and braking. It also employs electronic servo motors to manipulate the gas and brake pedals. All the systems use arrangements that allow the vehicle to be operated with the traditional foot pedals as well. Each of the above systems allows a vehicle to be operated with a joystick which requires less physical effort than the traditional foot pedals.
Accordingly, there is still a need in the art for an exercise system that will enable people to exercise in a car or other vehicle while safely maintaining a desirable rate of speed. Any such system should be safe at any speed and provide the ability to exercise with varying amounts of effort, as desired by the operator.